Effects of infrared laser moxibustion on cancer‐related fatigue: A randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial

Abstract

BACKGROUNDFatigue is the most common symptom negatively affecting the quality of life of patients with cancer. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the preliminary efficacy and safety of 10.6‐μm infrared laser moxibustion for cancer‐related fatigue (CRF).METHODSThe authors conducted a randomized, placebo‐controlled trial among 78 patients with cancer who were diagnosed with CRF. The group treated with infrared laser moxibustion received 10.6 μm of infrared laser moxibustion on the ST36 (bilateral), CV4, and CV6 acupoints. Each participant received a 20‐minute treatment session 3 times per week for 4 weeks. The sham group received the same treatment duration on the same acupoints, but without infrared laser output. The outcome was change in fatigue as measured by the Chinese version of the Brief Fatigue Inventory between groups at week 4 with additional evaluation at week 8 for durability of treatment effects. A mixed effects model was used to evaluate the difference in treatment effect over time.RESULTSAmong those randomized, 61 patients (78%) completed the entire study. At the end of the intervention, the individuals in the group treated with the laser were found to have significantly less fatigue than those in the sham group (3.01 vs 4.40; P = .002). The improvement in fatigue persisted to week 8, favoring the group treated with laser moxibustion (3.03 vs 4.26; P = .006). Laser moxibustion was safe, with 3 cases of mild local erythema that resolved without medical intervention reported.CONCLUSIONSInfrared laser moxibustion appeared to be safe and efficacious for improving CRF in a Chinese patient population. Larger studies in more racial/ethnically diverse populations are needed to confirm the benefit of this technique for fatigue in patients with cancer. Cancer 2016;122:3667‐72. © 2016 The Authors. Cancer published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Cancer Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Moxibustion for cancer-related fatigue: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Although there were few studies with good quality evaluating the effect of moxibustion for the patients with cancer-related fatigue, a recent publication by Mao et al [32]. using infrared laser moxibustion was helpful.…”

Reply to Misinterpretation of the longitudinal results in the randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of infrared‐laser moxibustion for cancer‐related fatigue

“…In summary, Moran et al's response to our article does not change the conclusion of our research: infrared‐laser moxibustion has demonstrated preliminary safety and efficacy for improving cancer‐related fatigue in a Chinese patient population. Larger studies in the future with long‐term follow‐up in more racially/ethnically diverse populations are needed to confirm the benefit of this noninvasive technique for the treatment of fatigue in patients with cancer.…”

“…We are grateful for the opportunity to respond to Moran et al's letter regarding our article . We performed repeated measures of analysis of our longitudinal data with the mixed effects linear model, but we did not present the statistical output in our article because of the journal's word limit.…”

“…As we reported in our article in the Outcome Measures section, the primary endpoint of the trial occurred at the end of treatment (ie, week 4). Our analysis and Moran et al's analysis are consistent and indicate that the fatigue scores were statistically different between the 2 groups and favored true laser moxibustion.…”

Misinterpretation of the longitudinal results in the randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of infrared‐laser moxibustion for cancer‐related fatigue

“…We have read with interest the article by Mao et al in which they evaluate the preliminary efficacy and safety of 10.6‐μm infrared‐laser moxibustion for cancer‐related fatigue. They conclude that infrared‐laser moxibustion appears to be safe and efficacious for improving cancer‐related fatigue in a Chinese patient population.…”